Minneapolis – Bo Naylor snapped an eighth-inning tie with his second two-run single of the game, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Minnesota Twins 6-2 on Friday night for their eighth straight victory.

The Guardians (82-71) won for the 13th time in 14 games to pull within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Tigers in the AL Central. Cleveland was coming off a three-game sweep of Detroit, which lost 10-1 to the visiting Braves on Friday with three games looming in Cleveland next week.

José Ramírez had a two-out double off Cole Sands (4-6) in the eighth and Kyle Manzardo was intentionally walked. Ramírez stole his 40th base and Manzardo followed with his second to set the table for Naylor, who lined a full-count pitch to right field for a 4-2 lead.

Steven Kwan and Angel Martínez had two-out RBI doubles in the ninth off Michael Tonkin to cap the scoring.

Kwan led off the game with a single off Pablo López and Ramírez walked with one out. Both advanced a base when Manzardo flied out to left and Naylor followed with a two-out single to right for a 2-0 lead.

The Twins tied it in the sixth on a wild pitch by Parker Messick and Royce Lewis’ RBI single off Matt Festa.

Messick struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits. Jakob Junis (4-1) struck out four in two hitless innings for the win.

Lopez left after four innings with right forearm tightness. He allowed two runs on three hits in his third start since missing three months with a right shoulder strain.

Minnesota (66-87) has dropped seven of 10 to the Guardians this season.

Ramírez played his 1,600th game for Cleveland, third in franchise history behind Terry Turner (1,619) and Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie (1,614).

Up next

Guardians RHP Slade Cecconi (6-6, 4.39) will start the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader opposite Twins RHP Joe Ryan (13-8, 3.35). Guardians LHP Logan Allen (7-11, 4.36) and Twins RHP Bailey Ober (5-8, 5.12) will square off in the nightcap.

Dodgers clinch 13th straight postseason berth

Los Angeles – After Clayton Kershaw pitched the final regular-season home game of his 18-year career, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their 13th consecutive postseason berth.

With a 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night, the defending World Series champion Dodgers tied the New York Yankees (1995-2007) for the second-longest playoff streak in major league history. Only the Atlanta Braves’ 14 straight berths streak (1991-2005) is longer.

“Quite the accomplishment,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It never gets old, you never take it for granted. It takes a lot of hard work to get there.”

Roberts led a Champagne toast in the clubhouse after Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer, his 52nd of the season, and Mookie Betts added a solo shot.

“I wanted to make sure that we raised a glass to Clayton on this day, his career and kind of acknowledge what we’ve accomplished to get to the postseason,” Roberts said. “That’s one step. The next step is to win this division so we still got some work to do. Once we do that, then we can focus on the postseason.”

The Dodgers lead the second-place San Diego Padres by four games in the NL West race and their magic number is four to win the division. Los Angeles is trying to win its 12th division title in the last 13 years and needs three more wins to reach 90 for the 12th consecutive year.

The Dodgers remained five games behind Philadelphia for the No. 2 seed in the National League and will likely be playing in the wild-card series for the first time since 2021.

“We understand that there’s still a long way to go,” Roberts said.

Kershaw got a no-decision against the Giants, giving up two runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and four walks.

“I’m excited for what the next, five six weeks could look like,” he said. “Our team is honestly stacked with pitching right now. I can do the math. I know there’s only so many spots, so I’m just going to continue to try and pitch well and we’ll see what happens.”

Kershaw said he’ll make another start next weekend in Seattle, where the Dodgers conclude the regular season. Then it’ll be up to the front office to decide where the 37-year-old left-hander fits among a rotation that includes Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.

“We’re going to try and win the World Series,” said Kershaw, who will retire at season’s end. “I’m ready and willing to do whatever I can to help.”

Mariners take over first in AL West

Houston – Eugenio Suárez hit his 47th homer, three other Mariners went deep and Bryan Woo pitched five effective innings before leaving unexpectedly as Seattle beat the Houston Astros 4-0 on Friday night to take over first place in the AL West.

The surging Mariners (85-69) have won 11 of 12 to wrest control of the division away from the Astros with eight games remaining. The teams play twice more this weekend before Seattle closes the season by hosting Colorado and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Astros fell into a tie with Boston for the final two American League wild-card spots, with Cleveland 1 1/2 games behind.

Woo (15-7) yielded one hit and one walk and struck out seven, but the All-Star right-hander departed after a couple of warmup tosses in the sixth, having thrown just 67 pitches. It was Woo’s ninth straight outing surrendering three runs or fewer, and he lowered his ERA to 2.94. He has 198 strikeouts this season.

Julio Rodriguez homered in the first inning for the Mariners. Suárez’s 425-foot drive off the train tracks above the Crawford Boxes in left field in the fourth made it 2-0.

Victor Robles led off the seventh with a homer, and Josh Naylor connected in the eighth.

Hunter Brown (12-8) allowed two runs and struck out nine in six innings. Brown has 201 strikeouts this season.

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